Photo: Sean Zanni/WireImage
Lily Allen kicked off her breakup with David Harbor with her diartism. West End Girlthe singer's first album in seven years. Allen and Harbor, who married in Las Vegas on September 7, 2020, split earlier this year and if her texts on West End Girl Even remotely autobiographical, this could be one of the messiest celebrity breakups in years. Over the course of 14 detailed tracks, Allen talks about accusations of cheating, unwanted open relationships, and the pain of marriage breakdown. On “Madeline“,” Allen describes a message from a woman who had sex with a man who was definitely Harbor and whom Allen herself seemed to know personally. “We had an agreement / Be careful and don't be explicit / There had to be a payment / It had to be with strangers / But you're not a stranger, Madeline.”
Harbor, for his part, didn't let the public's fascination with Allen's confessions keep him out of the spotlight. He is currently final season advertisement Stranger Things on the red carpeteven though he is reportedly missing various press conferences. However, his absence is most likely not related to his ex, but rather to the filming of the film. Evil genius with Courteney Cox.
But what's really going on with the ex-couple and theirPussy Palace“? So far, there don't appear to be any lawsuits indicating that Allen or Harbor have officially filed for divorce, but that doesn't mean we can't foresee how their seemingly inevitable split will play out. Three of New York's top family law attorneys answered all our questions about what might be next—other than another Allen album.
“In a vacuum, the answer is no. As is often the case, the real answer is, 'Well, it depends on the situation,'” said Michael Stutman, a partner at Alter Wolff Foley & Stutman LLP, who said “misconduct” could be relevant if it somehow affects children or overall finances. (Allen has two children, daughters Ethel and Marnie, from her previous marriage to Sam Cooperwith whom she shares joint custody.) When it comes to celebrities, the money part gets especially interesting. “Sometimes this impact is not just about spending money on your lover, but it could also be that bad behavior negatively impacts someone's celebrity presence and thus reduces their marketability,” he said. In other words, if a celebrity's infidelity costs them their job, which impacts the couple's financial future, then a judge may grant the injured spouse more assets to compensate for any losses caused by that erroneous behavior. But if neither the children nor the finances are connected, Statman says courts generally don't care about who sleeps with whom.
Bonnie Rabin, a prominent New York divorce lawyer who counts celebrities among her clients, says it depends on the situation. “If there is a prenuptial agreement, then most likely it is described there,” she suggested. “So this is the threshold question: Was it already provided for in the prenuptial agreement?” If there is no prenuptial agreement, the court must examine the couple's assets before and after the marriage to determine whether “alimony” payments will be required. “Do they both make enough money to support themselves? Or did they each live that lifestyle, or is only one able to continue living and the other can't because of a breakup or divorce?”
If both parties have sufficient funds – which they could obtain from the division of marital property or their own income – “it is unlikely that one party will pay alimony.” And in general, the shorter the marriage, the shorter the period of maintenance.
Statman expressed similar sentiments. To receive spousal support, “the intended recipient must demonstrate certain needs.” He explained, “If the one who wants support makes, say, $5 million a year, and the other spouse makes $8 million a year, the fact that one of them makes more than the other doesn't mean that the spouse who already makes $5 million a year will get any support at all.”
Mary-Kate Olsen's divorce attorney Nancy Chemtob can answer that question. “Most celebrities enter into a prenuptial agreement that the other spouse cannot receive from them fame, fortune, or anything that is part of their likeness” or being. Both parties must agree to a prenuptial agreement; any agreement is not unilateral. “The reason why people would want a prenup if they're a celebrity is to be able to walk away easily… to know how much money my spouse is getting, how much money I'm going to have to give up.”
“The one thing you shouldn’t do in a prenuptial agreement is do anything to dictate terms to the children,” Chemtob said. In other words, a prenuptial agreement does not cover custody or alimony.
If fame is a potential commodity in a split, it is unclear who has more in this situation. Of course, Harbor's star has risen from Stranger Thingsbut Allen's new album made her a celebrity beyond her peak.
If there is a prenuptial agreement, it will determine who receives the proceeds of the home. If that doesn't happen, Rabin said, the court will consider distributing the property based on equitable distribution. In New York, there is something called equitable distribution, which essentially means a fair division of the family's assets, not necessarily a 50/50 split. Items that go into this calculation may include how much each person earns, whether they had any assets before marriage, and both parties' future financial prospects.
In New York, if a person had money before marriage—an inheritance or earnings—and kept it separate from their spouse, it generally would not be considered a “family asset” that could be taken. On the other hand, “whatever they earn during the marriage in New York is considered marital, and then all mental distribution factors apply to it.” (This is very different from California, where divorce is governed by the so-called “community property” doctrine. Generally, public property ensure that both parties receive 50 percent of the assets accumulated during the marriage unless there is some agreement.)
It's “very unlikely” that adoptive parents will have to pay child support, Rabin said. There are “very unusual situations” where spousal support may include child-related expenses, but stepchildren have “other parents of their own.”
Harbor will almost certainly not have any custody or visitation rights. “If you're not a legal parent, whether it's birth recognition, paternity, or adoption, you don't really have any obligations and you don't have many rights,” Rabin said. However, things can get a little murkier once the non-parent becomes fully comfortable in the role. Did your stepfather go to parent-teacher meetings? Fully support your adopted children? Did they call them “Dad” or “Mom”? But the chances of a stepfather getting custody remain incredibly slim. “It would be unusual for these children to have other parents.”
Courts generally don't care much about bullshit. Rabin said courts can take into account when such conversations are harmful to one of the disgruntled partners. “There are times when a party says negative things about a spouse that could affect their job and career, and the court may take that into account,” Rabin said. Let’s say that during the divorce, the spouse worked in a bank. If the other estranged spouse alleged theft or insider trading that cost him a promotion, “the court can absolutely take that into account.” If, in a celebrity's case, blatant accusations of cheating resulted in her ex losing parts or opportunities, the court might also take that into account.
“If she's the one speaking her mind, she probably has a PR person telling her to do it. So, I'm guessing she doesn't want to be the person who looks bad and she's trying to get ahead of the story,” Chemtob said. However, there are times when unhappy married couples do not speak up, no matter how unhappy they are. Chemtob said it is “often the case” that a prenuptial agreement includes a “confidentiality agreement.” They may state: “One person cannot speak, or both people cannot speak.”
